Zack Burner wrote:Not a likely pick for around Christmas time but it works: "Trading Places" (1983) featuring Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis, Paul Gleason, Denholm Elliot, Ralph Bellamy, and Don Ameche, plus a cameo of Frank Oz as a police officer. Two greedy stockbrokers decide to do a little "experiment" of switching their wealthy protegee Winthorp (Aykroyd) with con artist Valentine, putting the former out of his job and lifestyle putting the latter in his place. Everything seems all fine and dandy for Valentine, until he overhears the stockbrokers plan and decides to track down Winthorp so they can get even with the double-crossers, in the market that is....A nice modern rendition of the classic story "The Prince and the Pauper" though many parts of it are tragically dated, including some eyebrow raising racial humor that doesn't stand the test of time. Another negative is that the laughs are uneven, though the best thing about this is the chemistry between Murphy and Aykroyd, and the funniest scene involves a (poorly animatronic) gorilla where the equally double crossing security man (Gleason) gets KO'ed, then gagged and put into a gorilla suit, and then two drunken custodians have some fun one claiming: "The black one is a female!".
This is actually a bit of a staple for me around the holidays, usually the week of Christmas or New Year since the movie takes place over that time frame. Not sure if you were aware but in addition to all other other famous folks, a pre-Senate-running Al Franken was one of the baggage handlers (the 'drunken custodians') as well.
Special shout out to Jaime Lee Curtis, who looks absolutely ah-maze-ing in this flick!
